Rotc Lets Students Shine With Confidence Taking Shapemore Than 200 Dieruff And Allen Students Learn Discipline And Self-confidence In The Junior Rotc.

May 14, 1999|by ERIKA CHAVEZ, The Morning Call

It is 7 a.m. on a Thursday, and 99 Dieruff High School students are standing in the gym, lined up in ramrod straight rows.

Their dark blue uniforms are neatly pressed; overhead floodlights reflect off their gleaming black shoes. The boys' hair is short and groomed; the girls' long hair pulled back and immaculately tucked into service caps.

Appearance is important when you're a cadet in the Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps, or AFJROTC. Students are required to wear uniforms to school once a week and are graded on appearance. Points are deducted for wearing a wrinkled or dirty uniform or scuffed shoes. Even lint or a missing button is cause for a 5-point penalty.

But the ROTC, as students at Dieruff and Allen high schools call it, is about much more than immaculate uniforms, military drills and push-ups. It's about being a better student and learning discipline and self-confidence.

"This program is not about yelling and showing you we're mean," said Leeann Centeno, 18, a Dieruff junior with the rank of cadet captain. "It's about learning things like respect and dedication."

And although the ROTC's mission is not to recruit teen-agers for military service, some go on to successful military careers.

Two 1993 Dieruff graduates attended the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo. Samuel Beringer and Matthew Janes completed the academy in 1998 and are ensconced in pilot training and navigator training, respectively.

At an age when many of their peers spend their free time in front of television or computer screens, the Dieruff students choose to rise every morning by 5:30 to be at school in time for their 7 a.m. "early bird" class, the only time all 99 cadets can meet to practice drills. It is much the same at Allen, where a 120-student Navy Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps, or NJROTC, meets at 7:30 every morning.

The students' enthusiasm and dedication have led both ROTC units to be considered among the nation's best.

Allen's NJROTC traveled to Chicago last month for a national drill competition and came away ranked No. 1 in the Northeast. General Atienza, 18, an Allen senior, received a second-place award in individual drill competition, topping almost 800 competitors. General is the young man's first name.

"It's an excellent program to join. It has changed me," said Atienza, who plans to study law enforcement at Lehigh Carbon Community College.

Atienza was a lackluster student and didn't always do his homework before joining ROTC.

"I was kind of a bad kid, and I turned into a good kid. It straightened me out," he said.

Dieruff's AFJROTC also ranks high year after year among 609 high school Air Force units nationwide.

The ROTC members also perform thousands of hours of community service each year, marching in parades, escorting residents at senior citizen homes to holiday shows, tutoring elementary school children, organizing food and toy drives and cleaning up cemeteries.

"It has been a great experience," said Harold Mendoza, 18, an Allen senior who as lieutenant commander is the highest ranking student in the group.

"I have really enjoyed giving out to the community," said Mendoza, who balances ROTC with three part-time jobs and is headed to Pennnsylvania State University on a full scholarship. He plans to study international business.

Mendoza credits ROTC with much of his success.

"I don't think I would be as responsible if I hadn't joined," he said. "It taught me how to manage my time," said the straight-A student.

The ranks of the ROTC are diverse, culturally and socially, and cut across the typical high school cliques, said Master Sgt. Steve Borland, an assistant instructor at Allen.

"There are athletes, academics, some English-as-a-second-language students, even some special-needs kids," said Borland. "It's amazing how well they all get along."

Dieruff's AFJROTC program was founded in 1966, and Allen's NJROTC dates back to 1985. ROTC programs for each branch of the military are available at select high schools nationwide. Allen and Dieruff are the only schools in the Lehigh Valley with ROTC programs, said Maj. Jose Troche, who runs Dieruff's program.

Students are graded and receive credit for participtaing in ROTC. A curriculum based on aerospace and naval science is studied three days a week. Cadets also spend time learning leadership skills and basic military drills and working on physical conditioning.

But the ROTC's mission is not to recruit teen-agers for military service, said Cmdr. Dan Serfass, who runs Allen's program.

"Some will go into the military after graduation. Most don't," Serfass said. "We're not here to recruit. We're strictly about developing young people as good citizens and productive members of society."

Whether or not students pursue a military career, instructors hope what students learn from ROTC will extend to other facets of their lives.